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214. Beggar Siblings – Night Sky

“Good evening, Your Highness.”

Leo nodded and sent Galen, who was clinking glasses with him, away. However, instead of heading to bed immediately, Leo sat down on the plain wooden chair in the quiet and humble church guest room and devoured the remaining drinks and snacks. His mind was digging into Sir Bart.

A knight of extraordinary skill, lacking mercy in his quest for revenge. He was as loyal as they come, but whenever it came to matters concerning Duke Tertan, Sir Bart’s hostility was evident. Seeing his backstory, it seemed his thirst for vengeance wasn’t just about losing his lord due to the duke.

His comrades.

Regardless of the reasons, many of the comrades who had braved through hardships together lost their lives due to the army raised by Duke Tertan. That was all Leo knew about Sir Bart’s inner struggles.

I truly can’t figure it out.

Running out of alcohol and having licked every last crumb of snack, Leo tidied up the messy table. As the heat of early summer night began to build up, he opened a window to ventilate before heading to bed when—

– Knock, knock.

Jenia Jaqueri stood at the door. She knelt in the dark corridor, showing her respect.

“I apologize for the late hour. I have been asked by Princess Lena to summon you, Your Highness.”

Honestly, it was a bit late. But Leo said, “Lead the way.” Pulling his hood down, he followed Jenia without another word. He finally asked as they exited the church and climbed into the carriage she had arrived in.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m not sure myself. She just said there was something to celebrate.”

…Lena told her not to say anything.

Jenia Jaqueri was again acting as Lena’s escort knight. The legitimate daughter of the Jaqueri family and a knight of the First Knight Order, she was skilled in swordsmanship and etiquette, not to mention being a female who was assigned to stay close to her younger sister.

To be honest, having Reb around was a lot more comforting, but Reb lacked the title of a knight and was too young to properly escort a princess. Thanks to this, the suddenly jobless Reb was idling around Lena, enjoying his time.

According to him, people saw him as a gold digger who shadowed the prince for a reward after helping him once, which made Leo chuckle.

Anyway, realizing that his sister summoned him with the intention of surprising him, Leo stopped asking more questions.

Instead, he asked, “Is there anything difficult about escorting Lena?”, and “Has anything fun happened?” He had already heard the details from her last time, so he threw out trivial questions.

Jenia replied,

“Actually, the princess went out for a trip two days ago. She seemed to have a lot of fun.”

This sparked a detailed account of how the princess stared blankly at the royal palace for a long time and that she had bought a set of cosmetics from the Belita Kingdom only to find out they were defective, which made her quite furious.

Haha.

Is this also some kind of {event}? Something that must happen when Lena meets Jenia?

But since there wasn’t anything special happening last time or this time, Leo simply nodded lightly. Eventually, the carriage arrived at Marquis Arne’s residence.

The estate of Marquis Arne, the northern border count of the Conrad Kingdom who promised to support Leo, was located on Moritz Avenue, where many noble residences were clustered. It was located right across from Duke Tertan’s mansion, which Leo found quite ironic.

He gazed at the duke’s estate, enveloped in darkness, before turning and entering the mansion.

Marquis Arne’s mansion had a unique feature compared to others.

First of all, it was built from stone.

Considering the Conrad Kingdom’s character, where stone was extremely scarce, and houses were built from bricks and wood, seeing a stone building was quite a strange sight. This was because his territory bordered the magical kingdom of Aisel, and the rocks used for constructing this mansion came from there.

In fact, it would have been cheaper to import from the Orun Kingdom, where most of the territory was mountainous.

However, a peculiar rivalry existed between the Orun and Conrad kingdoms, where they flaunted their wealth to one another, leading to a situation where no one wanted to buy luxury goods like stones.

Marquis Arne had benefitted greatly from this situation. He had amassed great wealth through trade with the magical kingdom, and he proudly built his mansion from stone. The interior was filled with exotic items from the Aisel Kingdom.

That said, it would be a grave mistake to brush off Marquis Arne as merely a lucky merchant. He was one of the noblest of nobles, possessing the most powerful naval fleet on the continent.

This fleet typically sustained its maintenance from whaling operations catching balena (whales), making it unmatched except for Count Oscar of Jerome Holy Kingdom.

Honestly, I think, what does the sea have to do with us? But… Leo shook hands with the slim and dark-skinned Marquis Dennis Arne. The marquis, who had spent young days mingling with sailors, often had instances where he was aware of etiquette yet chose not to follow it.

“Welcome.”

“…So it wasn’t my sister who called me, but you, Marquis.”

In contrast to his dark complexion, the very gentlemanly marquis smiled broadly. He shook his head and chattered lightly.

“Of course not. How could I ask you, Your Highness, to come and go at my beck and call? This way, please. The princess and a very welcomed guest are waiting for you.”

Marquis Arne led Leo to a small banquet hall. A long table was set up with over half-burned candles, empty glasses, and plates strewn across it, indicating they had already celebrated among themselves. And there sat Lena, still raising her glass…

“I would like to introduce you. This is Ristad Jegen Dorph. Master Ristad, this is Prince Leo de Yeriel.”

“…No need for honorifics, just call me Ristad Jegen Dorph, please.”

There was a sorcerer. A middle-aged man whom Leo had briefly seen before, unshaven and drunk, was demanding to be called by his full name. However, judging by the marquis’s shrug and Lena’s giggles, it seemed his request would be hard to fulfill.

“Really…”

“Ah! Are you about to get angry again? Then don’t forget, as punishment, you’ll have to show us some magic. Brother, you’re here? Have a seat.”

Leo greeted the sorcerer and sat down in the empty seat Lena pointed out. He kept his mouth shut, trying not to spoil the relaxed atmosphere, but he didn’t like the sight of his sister playfully tapping the sorcerer’s hand as she joked around.

This wasn’t their first encounter.

Lena had a way of adapting her words to match whoever she was with, creating the desired atmosphere. However, instead of feeling proud, it made Leo uncomfortable as an older brother. Why had his sister changed so much… he had a feeling he knew why.

[ Achievement: Twenty Photos – Lena occasionally remembers her past faintly through dreams. ]

In the small banquet hall where the candlelight flickered.

Leo felt a sense of guilt that clashed with the jovial scene of the marquis, princess, and sorcerer sharing laughter. Distant from their world, Leo was lost in thought,

‘Leo de Yeriel, you have it too good.’

He took a deep breath, shoving down the inescapable lingering feelings within. He grasped his sister’s hand beneath the table, its radiance strikingly beautiful yet somehow exuding a peculiar allure. His sister turned to him, asking, “What’s wrong?” while smiling brightly, but Leo couldn’t tell if that smile was genuine or fake.

“What happened? How did the sorcerer end up here?”

“It’s a long story, to be honest.”

Before answering, Lena subtly lifted a necklace hanging around her neck. It was a white necklace with protruding droplets etched with letters in relief, the same one that the beggar siblings wore when the scenario began.

“I was curious about what this was.”

“Isn’t this our mother’s necklace?”

“Indeed. But I was also curious about the patterns and letters engraved on it since I knew nothing about our mother. These droplets are indeed her personal symbol. However, the letters had a different meaning. Marquis Arne informed me that they stood for the House of Isadora, Cornel Mage Tower, and Jegen School in that order.”

“Ah…”

The information about {Noble Society} helped Leo gain understanding.

Their mother, Ainass de Yeriel, who died giving birth to Lena, was a princess of Aisel Kingdom. Before marrying into the Conrad Kingdom, she was named ‘Ainass de Isadora,’ a princess of the House of Isadora, which had a complicated political structure.

The kingdoms established by the fleeing royals from the Acaian Empire through numerous political marriages had a strong influence due to the nobility tied by blood to the royal family. The first mage tower, the “Cornel Mage Tower,” played a significant role in the Aisel Kingdom’s independence from the empire, injecting powerful political clout into the realm.

Thus, the royal authority was weak, and the interests of nobles intertwined complexly with the royal family and their relatives. Adding to this were the opposing factions of the Cornel Mage Tower, ‘Lydia’ and ‘Jegen,’ creating a fiercely competitive political landscape in the Aisel Kingdom.

In short, their mother, Ainass de Isadora, was a princess who had connections with the Jegen faction of the Cornel Mage Tower.

Lena had realized this and thus brought in the sorcerer, Ristad ‘Jegen’ Dorph, who had come to earn money at Rutina Royal Palace.

“Actually, it was Marquis Arne who brought the sorcerer here. I didn’t know Ristad Uncle… Sorry, can I call you Uncle?”

“Um, the title is not the problem, but… sigh, yes. You may call me as you wish, Princess.”

“Thank you. I didn’t even know Ristad Uncle was here. If the marquis hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have guessed he was from the Jegen faction.”

“But it was you, Princess, who asked about the sorcerer who had contracted with the royal family. I really did nothing.”

“Ristad. Jegen. Dorph, Marquis. Please, just call me by my name correctly.”

“However, why do sorcerers use two surnames?”

Kya-ha, Lena brightly laughed as she suddenly posed the question, and the three resumed their chatter. Leo couldn’t join in or focus on their conversation; his mind drifted back to the ending of the twelfth round where his sister had turned into a wrathful duke.

– Born in Rutina Castle, Lena… (truncated) …merged the duke houses and ascended to the title of Duke de Yeriel. To reclaim the throne, Lena was politically engaged to the First Prince of Aisel Kingdom, Vivian de Isadora, but lost her life due to assassins sent by the Aisel Kingdom’s Grand Sorceress, ‘Angelica Lydia Kyrgis,’ while heading toward the Aisel Kingdom. –

He didn’t know why the ‘Angelica Lydia Kyrgis’ had assassinated Lena. But if both he and Lena were connected to the Jegen faction and so was Vivian de Isadora… it made sense now.

Sigh.

I shouldn’t care about such things.

Shaking off those thoughts, Leo honestly praised his sister for achieving yet another milestone. His sister shrugged one shoulder, downplaying it, but it was a tremendous accomplishment.

Prince Eric was finished.

With a countermeasure against Oriax at hand, there was no hole through which he could escape after losing his knights. And now a sorcerer, responsible for the royal castle’s magical defenses, had sided with them; a rebellion was virtually a success already.

Bart and the necklace?

Sir Bart was bound to return to Rutina soon. Galen had said he would contact him—he sent a messenger to Noyar Port months ago—so once Bart came, he could simply ask him then.

Leo raised his chin.

His sister had filled the gaps left by this clumsy older brother. The day after tomorrow, no, it was after midnight now, tomorrow, he and his sister would safely reclaim their lineage. And—

…this would be the end of this beggar siblings scenario.

‘……’

With his chin raised, Leo stared into thin air. Even though it should have been a moment of joy, he felt nothing happy.

Lena. I’m sorry, my sister.

He saw his sister, who had decided to get up and head to bed, casually brush past Santian Rauno, who had been waiting outside all along. On his way back to the church, Leo prayed desperately to the heavens that this wouldn’t be the end, absolutely! It must not end here!

The night sky was pitch-black.